Melissa Meyer, Girl Detective
by SideshowJazz1
Summary: Based on a video game I played as a child. Someone's been trashing every place, and she's too quick for everyone. But Melissa Meyer has her suspicions. There are six suspects, and with her sister Chloe insisting on helping, she is determined to find the culprit. But as the crimes get more intense, and more serious and harmful, Melissa realizes that there is something wrong. R&R!
1. Chapter 1: Sleepover

**A/N: Hi! This is based on a game I used to play when I was a little girl, which was based on a book by Mercer Meyer. But anyway, the story is going to be a little different, since I'm replacing the pre-adolescent boys with teenage girls, and the original crime with something that is actually a little more serious. But the structure is the same, just more interesting. Please review!**

Six girls of fifteen years old lounged around in a room, playing Truth or Dare. It was Friday night, and the girls, or the "Demi Goddesses" as they called their group, were having a sleepover. (Their group name didn't really mean anything – there was a group of girls at their school who called themselves the "Superiors", but they didn't really mean anything by it). They had frequent sleepovers, and this one was no different to any other.

"Bindi, truth or dare?" questioned Taylor, with a mischief-making look on her face.

Bindi, the rebel and host of the sleepover, instantly replied "Dare!"

Taylor, who was the mysterious one of the gang, smirked. "Right. I dare you to...do a Britney Spears impression, and sing all of _Baby One More Time_!"

Bindi laughed. "Why not?" It was her room, after all, so she dressed up in her old-time school uniform, tied her hair in plaits, and giggled as she began to sing, "_Oh baby, baby, how was I supposed to know,_

_That something wasn't right here?_

_Oh baby, baby, I shouldn't have let you go-o-o-o,_

_And now you're outta sight, yeah..."_

All the girls were laughing throughout, especially the practical joker, Emma, who had a sadistic streak (that was why she specialized in practical jokes, so she had her friends believing).

"But Tay, I don't get it." frowned movie buff Amber. "Why would you ask edgy-style Bindi something so easy?"

Taylor smirked. "Cause I wanted to see if she'd do it straight off, or tell me to give her something harder. Anyway, it's your turn to ask someone, Bindi."

Bindi looked at the nerd, Courtney, who was reading _King Lear. _"Pointdexter, put the book down! Play the game with us, truth or dare?"

Courtney sighed. "Do you mind? I'm trying to read! But truth, I guess."

"So, when was the last time someone else made fun of you for loving school work?" Bindi said mischievously.

Courtney's cheeks turned red. "Um...yesterday." she mumbled.

The most sensible member of the group, Melissa, put a hand on Courtney's shoulder. "Don't worry, Courtney." she said. "I'm guessing it was someone brain-dead."

"Um, actually, it was me." Emma protested. "So you think I'm brain-dead?"

"How was I to know it was you?" Melissa pointed out.

"Excuse me, girls?" Bindi's mom put her head around the door before Emma and Melissa could argue further. "Please, don't make so much noise. Bindi, your father and I are going to bed now."

The six girls nodded, and said their goodnights.

"Thanks, Mom." Bindi said.

"Don't stay up too late." her mom answered, and closed the door.

Before Emma could say anything else, Melissa quickly said in her sensible way "Look, Em, let's forget it. You're not brain-dead, but lay off of Courtney, OK?"

Emma sighed. "Whatever." she mumbled.

It was Courtney's turn in the game. She had to smile, because she enjoyed making up questions that were hard to answer for each friend she had. "Amber, truth or dare?"

"Hmmm..." Amber thought for a moment. "Truth." she decided.

"Right. What is your favourite movie genre?" Courtney was smart enough to choose something hard for Amber to answer, instead of just something stupid and embarrassing.

Amber took a full five minutes to choose an answer. In the silence, a smile slipped onto Emma's face, and she turned to Taylor. "Tay, want some of my gum?" She held out a piece of gum, wrapped.

Taylor looked suspiciously at it, then smiled. "Well, OK." she took it, then bit into it. She immediately spat it out, gagging and grabbing the water bottle lying next to her. "Em, you promised you wouldn't do the spicy gum trick again! Why did you have to do it?"

Emma burst out laughing. "Come on, Taylor! It was just a joke!"

Amber suddenly snapped her fingers. "I know!" She smiled. "My favourite movie genre is most definitely crime."

Courtney returned to her book for a bit, until Emma and Taylor both started a pillow fight, which Courtney tried to ignore, but it was hard when five fifteen-year-old girls were punching you with pillows.

"Quit it!" she cried. "Mel, Tay, Dee, Em, Ambe, you know I love you guys, but, please, just let me read it!"

"What was the point of you coming to this sleepover?" Bindi demanded. "All you do is read! But that dumb book away and join in!"

"Come on, Courtney." Melissa pleaded tactfully. "Please, please p-lease?" But Courtney refused, especially when Taylor teased her about not being able to have fun. Taylor seemed to have it in for Courtney sometimes, but none of the girls knew exactly why Taylor seemed to have such a problem with the brains of the group.

The girls stayed up until midnight, and then, finally, turned in.

But little did they know, after five of them were asleep, the sixth lay awake. Finally, she got up, and sneaked out of the room, thinking about the start of her movie-esque caper, her break from sensibility, her rebellious peak, the mystery to top all mysteries, the practical joke the world would fall for, and the way to show everyone that a little brains could go a long way.

She ran down the stairs, her light feet barely making a sound, and then at the foot, she reached out from her stylish trench coat disguise, and held up her gadget. She giggled darkly as she set to work. In ten minutes, her first job was done, and she looked around with a smile. The magic didn't get show itself, but she couldn't wait to see the results the next day. Finally, she ran back up to the room, and went straight to sleep, literally dreaming of the havoc she would wreak on the town the next day.

**Well, there's the first chapter. Even if you hated it, please tell me what you think so far! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: First Crime

**OK, then, let's continue. Thank you so much for your review, A Scribbler.**

Everyone was blissfully unaware of the nighttime sneaking the next morning. Melissa was awake first, having set her watch alarm, as she had to leave early (she was driving to and from Bindi's house, having a restricted license). She quickly shook Bindi awake, to make sure she knew where her friend had gone, then drove back home.

Melissa's twelve-year-old sister Chloe met her at the door. "Hey, Mel! How was the sleepover? Did Emma play any new practical jokes? I really need some new ones to try out." Chloe, an aspiring jokester herself, hero-worshiped Emma and had asked the same question every day that her sister saw Emma.

Melissa shook her head. "She did the gum one on Taylor again, though. She keeps saying that within a month, she'll have her biggest and best prank running. I don't think she really means it, though, Chlo."

At that moment, Melissa's mom called out. "Melissa, is that you? Bindi's mom phoned and she wants to speak to you. She sounds pretty distressed."

Melissa quickly ran in, got the phone and answered "Yes?"

"Melissa?" Bindi's mother said. "Do you still run your detective agency?"

Melissa led a double life. Only a few people knew that Melissa also ran the Girl Detective agency. Most people didn't know that Inspector Meyer was also Melissa, and those that did kept it to themselves, as Melissa didn't want the attention – after all, the last thing she needed was suspicion. Even Melissa's best friends didn't know that she was a detective.

"Yes." Melissa answered.

"Well, last night, the den was completely trashed! I know that you girls were asleep before it happened, but I was hoping you might be able to track down the person. It's not worth the police, yet, though, so I called you."

"I'll be right there." Melissa promised, and hung up. She turned to Chloe, who was known around the circuit as Detective Chrome. "Detective Chrome, please assume your persona as a detective. We have a case to solve, starting at Bindi's home. Meet me in the car in five minutes."

After the first five minutes, and a few minutes of driving, the duo arrived at Bindi's home, looking nothing like Melissa and Chloe Meyer any more. The one clue was their voices, and since they sounded pretty much like most girls their age, not many people would recognize their voices. While all of her friends were having breakfast, Melissa had a look, and tried to find some clues. So did Chloe. Nothing really came up. While the floor seemed to have enough trash to make garbage angels, and one of the sofas was overturned. Even the TV was overturned, although it seemed to still work. The room wasn't unfixable, but Melissa and Chloe knew that if the person wasn't caught, worse crimes could be committed.

Melissa talked to Bindi's mom. "Well, after looking at the locks, it looks like no one's broken in, so that narrows the suspects down. It could even have been me! But our main suspects are Emma, Taylor, Bindi, Amber, and Courtney."

"Don't forget you too!" Chloe piped up.

"Not so loud!" Melissa hissed. "My friends are in the next room!"

"Oops...sorry, Mel – I mean, _Inspector Meyer_." Chloe said, emphasizing her sister's detective name. "Anyway, I think I better talk to the other suspects. Then we need to start piecing together everything we know."

Chloe talked to all five of the girls, but all of them claimed innocence.  
"Why would I mess up a place in my own house?" Bindi pointed out.

"It's not like I'd bother doing something that carefully planned." Taylor said, rolling her eyes.

"I might play around, but not that much." Emma admitted. "That's too crazy."

"What would the point of that even be?" Courtney questioned.

"Can you see me doing something that insanely destructive?" Amber said with a sigh of exasperation.

"But it could've been Melissa." Taylor added. "She's the only one not here. And she _did _leave early this morning."

"She went home!" Bindi protested. "She always goes home early."

"That's what you might think." Amber said, her eyes gleaming. "But I've seen enough mysteries to know that if she has a motive, she's the most likely suspect."

Chloe, although she knew her sister was a suspect, honestly couldn't really see her trashing Bindi's den, and wasn't sure why the girls that her sister called her friends would be selling her out the way Taylor and Amber had (without Courtney or Emma saying a word in Melissa's defence), but all she did was thank them for co-operating and leave with Melissa.

"Mel, your friends all said you were the most likely suspect." Chloe told her. "Well...Bindi defended you, but Amber and Taylor were quick to pin it on you. How come those two are your friends?"

Melissa shrugged. "They're under suspicion. They'd panic." she said calmly. "It's kind of natural to freak and say it was someone else, for fear of being accused, I guess, even if it was someone else. And ssh, remember to call me Inspector Meyer! We can't let people know who we are!"

Chloe shrugged at that. "OK, OK. But they are right. There are six suspects, and I'm pretty sure we can match motives."

"That's what we'll do when we get home." Melissa decided. "We need to work out what motives the suspects have. Even me."

Chloe's eyes glowed. "I'm pretty sure I can pick out a reason already why you might've done it, and I fully intend on interrogating every single suspect."

**Well, I've introduced Chloe now. By the way, has anyone worked out what Mercer Meyer story this was based on? The crime and characters aren't quite the same, but the plot, so far, hasn't strayed that far. Please, please, PLEASE review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Suspects

**OK, before clue-searching, the suspects need a motive. So I'll start on that. And thanks for reviewing, A Scribbler and frumouttamimind! (Also, check out one of the fake names used by the suspect! It's a mix of two of my main OCs from other stories.)**

Melissa and Chloe went straight to Melissa's secret office to get the motives of the suspects straight.

"OK, we better make this official." Melissa decided. "So in alphabetical order of first names, Suspect 1 is Amber, Suspect 2 is Bindi, Suspect 3 is Courtney, Suspect 4 is Emma, Suspect 5 is…me, I guess. Suspect 6 is Taylor."

"So, what is Amber's motive?" Chloe questioned.

"Movie madness." was Melissa's guess. "She said yesterday that her favourite genre is crime, and I wouldn't put it past her to do this at some time, even though she is my friend. She used to do a lot of copying of stuff from the silver screen. I thought she'd stopped, but you never know."

Chloe nodded. "Suspect 2 – I think I know Bindi well enough to know that all she does is challenge herself. She seems to be addicted to doing stuff just for thrills."

"I don't know if she'd go that far." Melissa said doubtfully. "But it's very possible. Anyway, Suspect 3 is the most likely to have the potential."

"How so?" Chloe questioned.

"Courtney's smart." Melissa pointed out. "She probably knows how to trash a room and not leave any clues. I don't know what she'd have to gain by doing it, though."

"I know!" Chloe cried. "She takes Psychology, right? She's probably doing a psychological experiment and filing everyone's reactions."

Melissa nodded and smiled a bit. "That's true. Suspect 4 – well, Emma's obvious. All those crazy practical jokes she plays...she's always trying to make her next joke better than the last, and recently she's been doing way too many outdated ones."

A smirk appeared on Chloe's face. "My turn to talk. You're the fifth suspect."

"Yeah, yeah." Melissa said in a bored tone. "So tell, Chloe. What's my motive?"

"Boredom." Chloe answered. "Since when did we last have anything to investigate? Bindi's mother wasn't even sure if you still had the business. You needed something to pick up, and this might very well be your work, just to show that your girl detective business is not useless."

Melissa shrugged. "Your theory works, I suppose. But we're up to Taylor, and personally, I have a feeling it might be her. She was unusually dark, last night. Besides, she's the only one of my friends that I don't trust with all of my secrets."

"Didn't you once tell her that you thought someone was bipolar, and it somehow was all over the high school the next day?" Chloe remembered.

Melissa sighed. "Yes. But I still would find it hard to believe she'd go that far, even with this instinctual feeling. Oh well, I guess she's innocent until proven guilty."

At that moment, Melissa's mom called, and both girls ran out of the office before she'd have time to look in the room and see their secret detective work.

"You called?" Chloe said.

"Yes, I did." their mom said. "Chloe, when did you last put away anything? I swear, if you haven't cleaned anything in half an hour, I will stand over you while you do it. And Melissa, you said you have homework, so get that finished before you do anything else."

The two girls had to obey, although Chloe muttered something about "over-controlling" as she trudged to her bedroom.

But just as Melissa closed her maths book, finished, she heard a shuffle, and saw the door to her room close. In a second, she was up, but the intruder was gone. However, what was left was a note.

"_Mel, I know it's you." _the note said. "_Keep out of this, Inspector Meyer. If you don't, you might well find that you've bitten off more than you can chew. See you later! Signed, Mercy Merciless."_

Chloe ran into the room. "Did you get a note?" She herself held out a note. This one said "_My associate may choose a dumb name, but I wouldn't. I'll be running this city, so keep out of it, Detective Chrome, and tell your sister, too. Signed, Stephanie Warner."_

"Either, there's more than one suspect, or she has more than one personality." Melissa mused. "We better check out the handwriting, but first, do we have any clues?"

Chloe nodded. "I saw her climb out of the window, and she dropped this!" She held up a scratch card, unscratched.

Melissa looked at the handwriting. "Hmmm...similar. The scratch card points to Bindi, cause she's a risk-taker, or Amber, because she goes by too much movie logic, but the one who's most likely to confuse people like this is Courtney. Maybe Courtney's working with someone else and didn't have them write one of the notes. I could see her forgetting a detail like that."

The two girls went back to the office to think it through, and after an hour of thinking, Chloe absentmindedly scratched the card with no results. She sighed. "We need to send this to a lab and get the hand prints."

Melissa smiled. "Right, Chloe – I mean, Detective Chrome. We better do that now. If I remember correctly, it takes about a week for them to send one back, but if we haven't solved the case by then, it'll help. Let's just hope we will have."

Chloe shrugged. "As well as this was just a one-off, it won't matter."

"I hope it was." Melissa said anxiously, now that had occurred to her. "For everyone's sakes."

But as Melissa would discover the next day, it wasn't just a one-off.

**The plot thickens. Who do you think is the most likely suspect, even without the clues? Please review!**


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